WATSONVILLE >> For the past five years, May 22 has brought a lot of familiar sights and sounds outside the Pajaro Valley Unified School District office, and Thursday was no exception.

The day, designated as Harvey Milk Day in honor of the late San Francisco supervisor and first openly gay elected official in California, has become one when LGBTQ+ individuals and allies gather outside the district office, deliver speeches and sing songs about the importance of being oneself and accepting others, and raise the Pride flag where it will fly alongside the American, state and POW/MIA flags through Oct. 11, National Coming Out Day.

A crowd of students, parents and district officials — many wearing some variation of the Pride flag, whether the traditional rainbow flag or the light blue, pink and white transgender flag — gathered for an emotional but spirited affair that highlighted the progress made within the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the work that remains to be done in ensuring acceptance.

Chrissy McLean, the district’s coordinator of academic and social-emotional counseling, began the ceremony, as she did the previous year, with a quote by gender nonconforming poet and comedian Alok Vaid-Menon: “There’s magic in being seen by people who understand — it gives you permission to keep going.”

“Becoming ourselves is a collective journey,” said McLean. “Thank you for being on the journey with PVUSD, being on the journey of seeing and accepting all students as they are as they show up each day.”

Superintendent Heather Contreras said she had only been in her position for two weeks when she spoke at last year’s ceremony and was impressed with how inclusive the Pajaro Valley was. That year, she challenged the district to make next year’s event even bigger. Sadly, she said this goal was not met.

“I’m gonna make a challenge again for next year,” she said. “We’re gonna have a call to action right now, today, that next year, we’re gonna grow this event. We’re gonna have a bus of students here who are gonna celebrate who they are.”

In the past few months, Contreras said diversity has been a challenge.

“We’ve had our federal government not completely supportive of diversity, equity and inclusion,” she said. “That means that we need to take a greater stand.”

On top of calling upon the district to make next year’s event bigger, Contreras also called upon attendees to make the world a better place for all every day.

“The only way that we make this world a better place for someone is by being kind,” she said. “The only way to be kind is by being inclusive. No matter how we look, no matter who we are, no matter what we are, it’s kindness.”

Jen Salinas-Holz, who has worked with LGBTQ+ students in schools for more than a decade, had her own call to action for attendees to take back to their schools.

“We need to be allies and stand up for LGBTQ+ students every day of the year, not just on Harvey Milk Day,” she said. “If we want to grow this event next year, we need to get students from a bunch of different schools to come.”

Salinas-Holz said part of the reason why this year’s event had lower attendance was because she used to bring students from the three campuses she worked at. Now she is only at one.

“It’s unfortunate that nobody at the other schools picked up the ball to bring students, so I challenge all of you to bring that back to your school sites to help students become engaged and also have a conversation about supporting LGBTQ+ kids throughout the year,” she said.

Students took turns, in both English and Spanish, presenting backgrounds on Milk’s life and legacy as well as the flag being flown Thursday. It was a variation on the rainbow flag created by Gilbert Baker — a friend of Milk’s — with design elements added by artist Daniel Quasar in 2018, including the colors of the transgender flag and black and brown stripes representing LGBTQ+ people of color. This flag is known as the Progress Pride Flag.

This gave way to an open mic session where attendees were asked to share what Harvey Milk Day meant to them.

Carlos Gonzalez said he was disappointed to see that LGBTQ+ Indigenous people were ignored until very recently, something their inclusion in the Progress Pride Flag sought to correct.

“For the past few centuries, homophobia and transphobia, etc. has been rampant within every single part of our life,” he said. “It’s really important to have spaces like this where we can acknowledge ourselves in the way that we are meant to be ever since the dawn of time.”

Jessalynn Levine, choir director at Aptos High School and Aptos Junior High School, led the crowd in a singalong of “Lead with Love” by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and choral conductor Melanie DeMore. Levine, who came out as transgender shortly before leaving a teaching job in Texas to move to California, said a lot of people have failed to teach the concept of leading with love.

“As this world makes education harder and harder, especially for queer and other marginalized communities, it becomes so important to have a mantra and way for us to hold ourselves in this world that is failing to hold us,” she said.

“Lead with Love,” featuring lyrics about putting one foot in front of the other and knowing there are others to help when times get scary, tapped into this, and Levine led the crowd in an a cappella call-and-response singalong that many took part in.

Following students reading the school board’s recent resolution to designate May 22 as Harvey Milk Day, students raised the flag as Lady Gaga’s acceptance anthem “Born This Way” played over the speakers.

Izabella Leon, Pajaro Valley High School student and recent Queer Youth Leadership Award recipient, told the Sentinel she was happy to see a lot of students present, as the first ceremony she attended a few years back was much smaller. She felt the event was a reminder for LGBTQ+ youth that there is support out there.

“It’s gonna be a very challenging time for the next couple of years,” she said. “Just know that there are supportive adults, supportive clubs, resources here in the county and there are people willing to help you achieve your full potential.”